Pool balls separable by magnetic forces



United States Patent Inventors Earl W. Feddick; [50] Field of Search 273/59. Gustave Wassmann, Bay City, Mich. 58(l l 19(A), 2. l l A 1. No. 696,344 fi Jam 8 1968 [56] References Cited Division of Ser. No. 207,694, UNITED STATES PATENTS July 5, 1962, Pat- No. 3,362,710. 275,923 4/1883 Kuschke 273/59 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 700,658 5/1902 Kempshall." 273/59 As'signee Valley Manufacturing Company 2,277,057 3/ l 942 Bach 273/58(l) Bay City, Mich. 2,939,709 6/1960 Verveer 273/119(A)X a corporation of Michigan 3,214,171 10/1965 Luchsinger..... 273/2X 3,362,710 1/1968 Feddick etal. 273/11 Primary Examiner-George J. Marlo Att0rney-Learman, Learman & McCulloch POOL BALLS SEPARABLE BY MAGNETIC g i 10D ABSTRACT: A complement of spherical, uniform size pool C 3 rawmg balls comprising a plurality of nonmagnetic object balls, and a US. Cl. 273/59, cue ball including a spherical body of nonmagnetic material 209/1111? and magnetic means embedded in the body concentrically Int. Cl A63b 47/00, with the center of the body intermediate the portions of non- A63b 37/02 magnetic material.

6 4 5 "k u' v I 5 lT\\ M l 4 4 r "L 7 I II cation.

. l POOL BALLS SEPARABLE BY MAGNETIC FORCES This application is a division of application Ser. No. 207,694 filed Jul. 5, I962, now US. Pat. No. 3,362,710 issued .lan.9,l968.

- This invention relates pool ball compartment into which the balls roll, by gravity, when played, and to means for effecting magnetic separation of the unnumbered cue ball from the numbered object balls in the event the cue ball inadvertently is shot or rolls into one of compartment. This problem has been solved heretofore by so forming the cue ball that it has .a slightly larger diameter than the object balls, i.e., there is a size differential between the cue ball and the object balls, so that whenthe cueball is inadvertently shot or rolls into one of the table pockets it is incapable of entering the locked object ball compartment. Instead, the

oversize ball bypasses the object ball compartment and is delivered to a cue ball compartmenhgthereby making it unnecessary to insert a coin in the mechanismto-retrieve the cue ball priorto completion ofthe game. g

Although an oversize cue ball permits its separation from the other balls, there are many objections to utilizing a cue ball that is larger than the remaining balls. One of the salient objects of the invention, therefore; is to'provide means for enabling the cue ball to be made the same si'ze as the object balls and still enable the cue ball to be separated automatically from the object balls. 3

With the above and other objects in 'view, the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts,

hereinafter more fully described, illustratedjin the accom-.

without departing from the spirit, or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

IN THE oRAwnsios FIG. I is a top' plan view of a pool table constructed accord ingto the invention with the playing surface of the table broken away to show the ball chutes and distributing trough, the broken lines showing a cue ball and'objectballs;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, longitudinal sectional view through-the distributor trough and-cue'ball compartment taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

. FIG. 4 is a transverse, sectional view through the distributor. taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3; Y I f 1 FIG. 5 is an enlarged, elevational view or a cue ball formed according to one embodiment of the invention, with a part broken away to show the construction; 1 I

FIGS. 6-8 are views similar to FIG. 5, but illustrating other embodiments;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective view of the magnet; and FIG. 10 is a view Apparatus constructed according to the. invention comprises a complement of pool balls including a plurality of numbered object balls P and one unnumbered cue ball C, the balls to poolballs-used on tables, particularly tables equipped with a normally locked, coin actuated level, downwardly inclined trough 3 leading toa normally locked object ball compartment A into whichthe object balls P may roll by gravity. The trough 3 also leads to a cue ball compartment B into which the cue ball C may roll when the game is completed, or when it is inadvertently shot into a pocket during the progress of the gam'elThe'cue ball compartment is provided with an access opening H topermit the ball to be removed from the compartment B whendesired.

The cue and object balls preferably are formed of phenolic resins of the type disclosed in U.S.Pfat. Nos. 2,223,394 or 2,395,675, but any other suitable and conventional material having the desired characteristics, as hereinafter set forth, may be utilized.

As is best shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the trough 3 has a bot tom wall or floor 4jhaving a width somewhat greater than the diameter of the balls. In advance of the cue ball compartment B, a portion ofthe floor 4 is removed to forman exit opening 5 beneath which is mounted a deflector plate 7 that is adapted to deflect a falling ball into a chamber 8that communicates with the compartment A through an opening 9. Adjacent the opening 5 the floor 4 has a width such that any ball arriving at the opening will be diverted through-the latter by gravity un- I it is inadvertently shot or rolls into one of the pockets 2 of the ment A and continues to roll down the'trough 4 into the cue ball compartment. For this purpose, the cue ball is equipped with internal, magnetically attractive material so that it will he attracted-by the r'nagnet M as it rolls past the exit opening.

The cue ball can be formed in variousways and, when completed, preferably is of the same weight and diameter as the object balls P. Moreover, the magnetically attractive material must be so distributed that the center of mass of the ball coincides with the geometric centerof the ball, as shown similar to. FIG. 4, butiillustrating a modifi- I being adapted for use with a substantially conventional pool the strips are evenly spaced so that the center of mass of the ball is at the geometric center of the ballf'Alt'ernatively (FIG. 6), a hollow sphere 12a of metal may be embedded in the ball by a'molding process and the spherecan-be perforated as at 12b to allow the plastic resin to flow into the-sphere to form a core within the sphere. An alternative method (FIG. 7) is to mold a ball with peripheral grooves 12c in its outer surface.

the depth of the grooves being greater 'thanthe thickness of the strips 12. Thereafter the strips 12', which may be identical to the strips 12 described above, may be inserted in the grooves and the grooves filled to the outer surface of the ball with the resin which subsequently may be cured to form a smooth exterior. A still further method ,(FIG. 8) is to substitute for the loops l2 segment shaped pieces of metal I211 similar toorange sections and either mold the ball around such sections, or insert them in a ball having grooves therein to accommodate them, and subsequentlyfill the grooves with resin and cure the latter to form a smooth surface.

In all of the foregoing embodiments, it-is desirable that the metal in the ball extend as close as possible to the surface of the ball to assure adequate attraction of the ball by the magnet M. Accordingly, it is necessary that the resin used in forming the ball be of adhering to the metal and remaining adhered thereto. Moreover, the resin should be sufficiently tough to avoid cracking in the regions adjacent the metal.

lfdesired, the exposed face of the magnet M can be concave in cross section to provide for a greater area of contact with the ball. The strength of the attraction between the cue ball and the magnet should be sufficientto maintain the ball against the sidewall 11 of the trough, but itshould not be of such magnitude as to prevent the ball from rolling past the exit opening 5, thus assuring its reaching the cue ball compartment in any of the described embodiments, the metal embedded in cue ball C can be magnetized. in such an arrangement, the magnet M can be replaced by a strip of magnetically attractive material such as steel. It should be understood that the terms magnetic means refers interchangeably to magnets, magnetized material or nonmagnetized magnetizable material.

If it should be desired to repel, rather than attract the cue ball, the metal in the ball can be so arranged that its magnetic polarity is the same as the polarity of the magnet M. This construction would require mounting the magnet M on the trough wall that is opposite the wall 11, as is shown in FIG. 9.

in practice, the player first inserts a coin (not shown) in a coin slide lever 16 (FIG. 1) and pushes the lever inwardly to actuate mechanism (not shown) to unlock the ball compartment A. The complement of object balls and the cue ball then may be assembled on the playing surface of the table and a game begun. Any object ball P that rolls into a pocket 2 will be delivered to the locked compartment-A, from which it cannot be retrieved until another coin is deposited. Should the cue ball C be shot into a pocket, however; it will be forcibly attracted by the magnet M so as to prevent its being diverted to the locked compartment A. Instead, the cue ball will bypass the exit opening 5 and will be delivered to the compartment B where it may be retrieved and put in play.

The disclosed apparatus constitute presently preferred embodiments of the invention, but this disclosure is intended to be illustrative rather than definitive of the invention. The invention is defined in the claims.

We claim:

1. A complement of spherical, uniform size pool balls comprising: a plurality of object balls and a cue ball; either said plurality of object balls or said cue ball being nonmagnetic, and the other of said plurality of object balls and cue hall being magnetic and including a spherical body of nonmagnetic material and magnetic means embedded in said nonmagnetic material radially outwardly of a portion of said nonmagnetic material and wholly radially inwardly of the outer surface of said nonmagnetic material for permitting the separation of said cue ball from said object a balls by magnetic forces, said body having its center of mass located at its geometric center.

2. The complement of balls set forth in claim I wherein said magnetic means is adjacent the outer surface of said nonmagnetic material.

3. The complement of balls set forth in claim 1 wherein said other of said balls is said cue ball and said magnetic means comprises magnetically attractive material.

4. The complement of balls set forth in claim 3 wherein said magnetic means comprises a plurality of individual, curved equally circumferentially spaced, strips of metal with ends adjacent common polar locations.

5. The complement of balls as set forth in claim 4 wherein said strips of metal comprise strips of nonmagnetized magnetizable material.

6. The complement of balls set forth in claim 3 wherein said magnetic means comprises a hollow sphere of metal.

7. The complement of balls set forth in claim 6 wherein said sphere is perforated.

8. The complement of balls set forth in claim 3 wherein said magnetic means comprises a plurality of segment-shaped pieces of metal.

9. The complement of balls as set forth in claim 1 wherein said nonmagnetic material engages substantially the entire surface of said magnetic means to completely envelop said magnetic means. 

